Entrance test plan meets cold response

Entrance test plan meets cold response

Leo Wahyudi S, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government's plan to expand the state university
enrollment test to twice a year is meeting a cool response from
education experts.

Critics say that the plan, due to begin next September, is
largely unworkable because state universities are still
struggling with a lack of basic facilities and teaching staff.

If there are any universities with the capacity to admit new
students twice a year, the number of high school graduates that
can benefit from it would be very small, they said.

Upon announcing the plan earlier this month, Minister of
National Education Abdul Malik Fadjar said the idea behind
holding the tests twice a year is to give people better chances
to pursue degrees in higher education and, in doing so, speeding
up improvement of human resources nationwide.

The new policy will now allow every citizen to enter college
irrespective of age and, if they fail the entrance test, they
will be allowed to take it again as many times as they wish.

The plan, however, has yet to be discussed with rectors to
seek input as to whether it can start in September for the first
test and in January, 2003 for the second.

Former education and culture minister Wardiman Djojonegoro is
among those pessimistic about the effectiveness of the policy,
largely because of the universities' limited capacity.

Altogether, Indonesia has 52 state-run universities with
76,000 seats available every year -- while 458,351 people
graduate from high school every year.

Wardiman insisted that the plan was a mere technical matter of
providing a wider access to higher education to the people.

"It's no big deal -- whether to hold entrance tests twice,
three times or more," he said, "as long as it overcomes the
social problems that stem from the growing number of unemployed
high school graduates."

Wardiman believes that the most effective way to absorb senior
high school graduates is by opening more universities.

Many leaders of state universities have also been critical of
the plan. They do not see it as being feasible, due to inadequate
facilities, teaching staff and overall funding.

The rector of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, Ichlasul
Amal, said on Tuesday the plan was not practical "because it
needs a huge operational cost to implement".

To hold entrance tests twice means that a university must
increase the facilities and infrastructure needed for the
teaching and learning processes -- including laboratories and
lecture spaces, he said.

Amal said his university will not implement the two-test
system until it has enough supporting facilities and staff.

But not everyone is skeptical about the plan.

Educator Arief Rachman, for example, praised the idea of the
plan as a "good starting point" for the move towards the
decentralization of education.

The tests should no longer be conducted by the Ministry of
National Education, but by the respective universities, he said.

Under the current system, state university entrance tests are
centralized.